Table 1.

Summary of informants’ characteristics

Type of informants	Sex	Management training at time of appointment/ assignment	Age of informants Mean (Range)	Number of years of experience in management Mean (Range)	Professional discipline of managers
District level administrative and political managers n = 5	F: 1	Yes: 3	46.2 (37–54)	7.4 (5–.10)
	M: 4	No: 2
District level health managers n = 6	F: 2	Yes: 3	45.2 (35–60)	7.5 (3–15)	Medical officers =3
	M: 4	No: 3			Nursing officers = 3
Health facility managers n = 11	F: 5	Yes: 0	37.6 (27–54)	5.5 (2.5–11)	Medical officers = 1
	M: 6	No: 11			Clinical officers = 8
					Nursing officers = 2
Total n = 22	F: 8	Yes: 6	41.6 (27–60)	6.5 (2.5–15)
	M: 14	No: 16

Typical health managers in this study were middle-aged, mostly males and had been in the role for over 6 years at the time of data collection. Managers generally did not have formal management training at the time of being assigned or appointed into the management role